To quote Mark Antony in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar set around 45 B.C., “Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears.” For all of history, people have been trying to aggregate human attention to sell them something. And the media industry is no different.

The world is counting on innovation to meet humanity’s severest challenges. And free enterprise is answering the call. The venture capital database CB Insights reported that in 2013, venture capitalists invested $350 million in food projects.

The good old UPC barcode has been around for nearly a half century, but savvy consumers are pushing hard for advancements in the way we track supply chains and deliver product information. The ubiquity of web-connected mobile devices with high-quality cameras enables mobile app developers to leverage the barcode in fresh ways. They can now provide consumers with digital food transparency, creating profound effects on the food industry.

It’s time we peeled back the curtain on the forces shaping the global landscape. Drawing on a wealth of data gathered by experts, we can draw from the charts presented here key lessons for plotting America’s role in this new order.

Life-improving solutions are diffusing throughout society at every rung of the global economic ladder at a quickening pace thanks to globalization linking long-deprived people and societies into modern supply chains.